Orthodontics - Orthognathic surgery

Orthodontics - Orthognathic surgery > My story > MAY 1, 2008 - After 6 weeks of appointments...

My story

MAY 1, 2008 - After 6 weeks of appointments...

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Hi all,

I just had my weekly appointment with my surgeon. After 6 weekly appointments like these, I must admit that I'm a little nostalgic because I'm well physically and mentally and he doesn't need to see me again until a few weeks (June 5).

My surgeon was very satisfied with the progress I have made since last week. I went from being very depressed to very excited and even his assistant noticed that I looked well. After observing and examining almost every muscle and bone of my face, my surgeon came to the conclusion that everything was now perfect and that both my jaws are responding exactly as he wished. I still cannot open my mouth very wide, but he told me that it was normal because I had had 2 surgeries and the bottom of my face is still quite swollen. The swelling doesn't show that much in my opinion, but when I touch my face, I can easily see that I still have a long road ahead of me. My intermittent pain in my left jaw joint is normal too in his opinion (sometimes, the pain still goes up to my ear, but it's better than last week) because the joint is well in place and there is no chance that it could start behaving oddly. I also asked him how much time could my mouth take before it can open normally again. For now, I still have problems eating because my mouth opens about an inch wide, not letting much space for a spoon with food in it to enter! He told me that it was normal because I'm still swollen, and in a month from now, if he notices that my mouth still doesn't open much more than that, I could start doing some more sophisticated exercises to fix the problem. For now, the bones are still too fragile, so the only exercise I can do is open and close my mouth as many times as possible without forcing. I'm already doing that often, so I'll continue!

I also learned an amazing thing about the human body. Since I've had both my surgeries, I noticed that my tongue is always getting stuck between my upper and lower teeth. All this is due to the inside of my mouth being much smaller now than before and my tongue needs to adjust to this new space! It's reassuring to know that because I have noticed other weird behaviors as well that could be due to the fact that my mouth wasn't correctly configured since my childhood or at least since I have my adult teeth...

During my last appointment with my surgeon, he had told me that some patients had started feeling the plates between the nose and the upper teeth a few years after a surgery and that these people were often slim. I asked him today if the removal of these plates would require a general anaesthesia if I ever start to feel them someday. To my great surprise, he told me that usually, the procedure is done at his clinic by using an intravenous sedative... He touched the region between my nose and my upper teeth very hard and he told me that he couldn't feel my plates and that not every slim person needs to get their plates removed after a few years. Let's hope that I won't have to go through this because it must not be exciting to get these things removed while being conscious!

My dental adventure with my surgeon is almost finished. He told me that he usually sees his patients at the same time as their appointments with my orthodontist (every 5 to 10 weeks) to see the progress up until the braces are removed. Talking about my orthodontist, I told my surgeon that I had an appointment with her tomorrow. He then asked his assistant to go call my orthodontist's clinic to know if she could see me today so I could avoid coming back tomorrow. He then advised me to try to make appointments with him and my orthodontist in the future one after the other to avoid coming twice at the same place in the same week.

I immediately went to my orthodontist's clinic because she told my surgeon's receptionist that she could see me right away. When I arrived upstairs, all the receptionists looked at me and greeted me like I was someone important! Hahaha When I sat down in one of the hygienists' chairs, my orthodontist arrived and she was just so happy to see me! At this moment, all hygienists without exception (even the ones who were with patients!) came to see me. Some of them know me pretty well, so they had a big smile on their face as soon as they saw me. Those that didn't know me as much looked at my pictures from before the beginning of my orthodontic treatments and when they saw what I look like now, they were very impressed too. Everyone in the clinic told me how much both surgeries were successful. (Some hygienists had heard my surgeon talk to my orthodontist when he came to see her to tell her that he had to operate on me again.) One of the receptionists told me that they would need to tie me up soon because I will create a big commotion everywhere I go! I don't know why, but it's exactly what I needed today to put a huge smile on my face (well, a smile as big as possible with the swelling!). My orthodontist told me that I would still have my braces for approximately another 6 months because all that's left to do is fine-tuning my teeth alignment. In a month, she will remove the brackets glued to my teeth to put them back on aligned with my teeth to finish the work. It's very encouraging to hear that! An assistant took more pictures of me because the last ones were from after the first surgery, and my occlusion has quite changed since then.

I then returned downstairs to my surgeon's clinic to continue our conversation because we weren't finished. He asked me how my orthodontist reacted when she saw me, and before I could answer, he said: "She flipped out, didn't she?!" hahaha I said that I had just made quite an impression on everyone upstairs, so much that they would need to tie me up because I was too beautiful! He said: "Oh well, it's only good! It's OK!"

I asked him when I would be able to go back to work at the office. He again told me that it was up to me to tell him, but he advised me not to return to work tomorrow (Friday), but anytime starting next Monday would be fine. I then decided to go back to work at the office next Monday on May 5, and I told him that I was comfortable at home, but I had to go back to the office one day! He then answered: "Ah, that's life, we have to work!" I then told him that I love my job and that I was looking forward to seeing everybody again as well.

Before my surgeon left to take care of other patients, I told him as before that I write a lot and that I had written him a letter to thank him. I then handed out the letter to him. He seemed happy and a little surprised. He asked me if I wanted him to read it right away in front of me or if he could wait to read it a little later. I gave him the choice because I knew that I had wasted more of his time than usual with my trip to my orthodontist's clinic. He then thanked me and he told me that he would read it for sure a little later during the day. I told him that it was just a little something, that I don't always find the words to express my gratitude orally, but I'm able to write my feelings more easily. (I wrote the majority of the letter in about 15-20 minutes, I had to get these thoughts out of me!) I decided to give him the letter today because I wanted him to know how happy I am of his work while he still quite remembers the surgeries that he performed on me.

Before I left the clinic, I saw that my surgeon's receptionist wasn't too busy, so I talked to her for a little while. I told her that I was sad because I've been coming to the clinic each week for the last 6 weeks and that I would be back only on June 5! She is very nice and we get along pretty well. In fact, I get along very well with everyone at my surgeon's and my orthodontist's clinics, so I consider myself very lucky for choosing them for my treatments.

As I said to the people that asked me today if I were satisfied with my new face, I spend a few minutes every day in front of the mirror simply looking at myself. And a huge smile always smiles back at me in the mirror each time!

Marie-Hélène

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